1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to monitoring telecommunication systems, and more specifically, to an apparatus and method for detecting potentially fraudulent telecommunication system usage. Telecommunication systems include both wireless systems (e.g., cellular telephones, satellite transmission, etc.) and systems utilizing transmission lines (e.g., common telephone systems). Fraudulent telecommunication activity is unauthorized usage for which the telecommunication system owner is not paid for its services. The invention also relates to credit based management of telecommunication systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Because immediate access to information has become a necessity in virtually all fields of endeavor--including business, finance and science--telecommunication systems usage, particularly for wireless telecommunication systems, is increasing at a substantial rate. With the increase in overall usage, however, the incidence of fraudulent usage has experienced a corresponding increase. It is estimated, for example, that fraudulent wireless telecommunication system usage is responsible for losses to the wireless telecommunication industry of $600 million each year. Clearly, a system for detecting and preventing such fraudulent activity would be highly desirable.
Fraudulent telecommunication activity, which may occur both in wireless and common telephone systems, has several different varieties. Among these varieties are cloning fraud, tumbling fraud, tumbling-clone fraud, calling card fraud, and subscriber fraud.
Cloning fraud, which occurs in cellular telephone systems, involves the misappropriation of a valid set of subscriber identification numbers (ID), programming the ID into one or more cellular telephones, and then using the "cloned" cellular telephones to place calls which are billed to the subscriber whose ID was misappropriated.
Tumbling fraud involves placing cellular telephone calls using a different randomly generated subscriber ID for each telephone call placed. Under certain circumstances no pre-call verification of the ID number is performed before the call is connected. Therefore, a fraudulent user may place calls even without possession of a valid subscriber ID. In this way, for example, 50 fraudulent calls placed by a single fraudulent user will be billed to 50 different subscriber IDs, most of which will be unassigned and unbillable, rather than to a single subscriber as in the case of cloning fraud.
Tumbling-Clone fraud, as the name suggests, is a hybrid of tumbling fraud and cloning fraud which involves placing cellular telephone calls using a plurality of cloned subscriber IDs. For example, a tumbling-clone cellular telephone may have a sequence of 10 different cloned subscriber IDs programmed into it. With each successive call placed by the fraudulent user, the cellular telephone would use the cloned subscriber ID next in sequence to initiate the call. In this way, the fraudulent calls would equally be dispersed over 10 different subscriber IDs, consequently making the fraudulent activity more difficult to detect.
Calling card fraud involves the misappropriation of a valid calling card number and then using the misappropriated number to place toll calls which are billed to an unsuspecting subscriber.
Subscriber fraud, which may occur in either cellular telephone or common telephone systems, involves fraudulent usage by an otherwise legitimate subscriber. Typically, this type of fraud is experienced when a subscriber signs up for telecommunication services, either cellular or calling card, and proceeds to use the telecommunication services with no intent of ever paying for the services provided. A user practicing subscriber fraud would continue to use the services without paying until system access was blocked by the service provider.
Although a number of prior fraud detection and prevention systems have been suggested, all have proved inadequate for various reasons. One proposed solution involves setting a predetermined number as a system-wide threshold for the number of cellular calls that may be placed by an individual subscriber in one day; when the predetermined number is exceeded, the method indicates that fraud has occurred. The system-wide threshold method, however, has several drawbacks. For example, this method applies the same threshold to every user. Typically, a high-volume subscriber such as a stockbroker may regularly place a large volume of calls each day in the normal course of business, whereas a low-volume subscriber who maintains a cellular telephone primarily for emergency usage may only place a few calls each week. The system-wide threshold method would be inadequate for each of these users, because it would generate a false alert for the high-volume subscriber who happens to legitimately exceed the threshold on a given day, while, incorrectly, no alert would be generated for the fraudulent use of the low-volume subscriber ID, as long as the threshold was not exceeded. Moreover, the system-wide threshold method is easily defeated by a fraudulent user who is aware of the predetermined threshold and takes care to limit the number of fraudulent calls placed to a number less than the threshold.
Another method, referred to as "call numbering," has been proposed to detect fraudulent cellular telephone calls, wherein a predetermined sequence of numbers is assigned to each cellular telephone unit within the network and, with each successive call placed, the next number in sequence is transmitted by the cellular telephone unit to the service provider station and recorded in the order received. When the call records are processed, if any call sequence number occurs more than once, or if the call sequence numbers are out of order, fraud or malfunction is indicated and the cause must be investigated. This method, however, has the disadvantage, inter alia, of requiring that the cellular telephone unit be modified to include additional equipment to generate and transmit the predetermined sequence of numbers. Consequently, the "call numbering" method is incompatible with the large majority of existing telecommunication equipment that has not been modified.
Moreover, the call numbering method is unreliable. It has been found that the call number sequence may become disordered through normal legitimate use, by events such as early termination of the call or power failure, thereby resulting in false alerts.
Also of concern in telecommunication systems is the ability to effectively control or limit the risk of non-payment by a subscriber, whether or not associated with fraudulent activity, and the encouragement of system usage by subscribers who are able to pay for the service.
Therefore, a system which reliably and accurately indicates the possibility of fraudulent telecommunication activity, but which is flexible enough to permit legitimate use by a wide variety of subscribers, and which is compatible with all types of existing telecommunication equipment is needed.